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Monday, December 17, 2012

Classic Cheese Lasagne (Martha Stewart)

"Noodles, marinara, noodles, ricotta mixture, Parmesan..." Despite that I kept telling myself this while layering the lasagne, I was still confused! Mine was eventually "noodles, marinara, ricotta mixture, Parmesan, noodles, marinara..." Silly me! In regardless, it was really fun baking this dish because this is my first time making fresh lasagne noodles.

Without addition of meat, this vegetarian lasagne is actually not rich at all and perfect for us to eat. Funny that my meat-eating husband and son didn't realise that this at all. Seriously, there was no complains at all! After we finished our dinner and cleaning up our plates, my husband suddenly had a surprised look at me and said "I don't remember that I ate any meat just now..." LOL!

This lasagne doesn't need any meat. All it need is lots of cheese and love. *smile*

A very nice vegetarian lasagne

Making the Marinara

Making the fresh lasagne noodles. Didn't have a pasta drying rack, used a cooling rack instead.

Layering the lasagne

Although I was a little confused with my layering order, the lasagne still look good!

Spread 1/2 cup marinara in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Place a layer of noodles over marinara. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over noodles, and sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan. Place a layer of noodles over the cheese layer.

Pulse tomatoes and juices in a food processor until coarsely chopped (I didn't do this).

Heat garlic and oil in a 5-quart pot over medium heat until garlic begins to sizzle, about 2 min. Add tomato puree, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 30 min. Let cool slightly. Sauce can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days.

Mound flour on a work surface, and make a well in the center. Beat eggs and a pinch of salt in a small bowl, then pour eggs into well. Using a fork, slowly add flour to eggs, incorporating a small amount at a time, switching to hands as dough becomes stiff.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, about 10 min. Cover with plastic, and let dough rest on counter for 1 1/2 hrs.

Cut dough into 8 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, dust dough lightly with flour, and feed through a pasta machine's widest setting (No.1).

Fold dough lengthwise into thirds, and rotate 90 degrees. Pass through machine 2 more times.
Turn dial to next-narrower setting. Pass dough through machine twice, gently supporting it with your palms. Continue to roll dough through ever-finer settings, 2 passes each, until sheet is almost translucent . If dough bubbles or tears, pass it through again, and dust with flour if it sticks.

Immediately cut sheet into lasagna noodles: 4-inch squares for individual lasagna or 4-by-13-inch strips for a large pan. Transfer strips to a drying rack for 1 hr. (Mine is just dried for 1 hr) Repeat with remaining dough. (Noodles can be stored, when completely dry and stiff, for up to 1 week.)

Fill a large bowl with cool water. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook 2 to 3 noodles at a time for 90 seconds. Using a wire-mesh skimmer, transfer noodles to cool water, and swirl a few times. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet until ready to use, placing a piece of parchment or plastic between layers. Use immediately.

Note:

Using half amount of this recipe, I have baked my lasgane in a 16 cm x 26 cm baking dish at 150°C fan forced for 45 min.

Instead of dividing the dough into 8, I've divided by my half amount into 4 and can make eight of 10 cm x 26 cm lasagna noodles.

My first Lasagna was more than 10 years ago. It was made by my French housemate, it tastes delicious with that many layering. Wow! you make the fresh Lasagna noodles, this homemade Lasagna looks fantastic!

Hungry now, and its past 11 pm sigh. Looks good Zoe! Reminds me i havent had lasagna for a long time, and i just saw Shannon's post on homemade ricotta. Think there's a message for me somwhere here lol!

Hey Zoe. The lasagna looks delicious! I can't believe you made the noodles from scratch. It'd be really hard to make it without a pasta machine.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. It's great to know you via blogging too. I've been browsing through your recipes and wow, you have a lot of good ones. Your Japanese Honey Castella Cake recipe looks really tempting. I have to give it try!

Gosh! I'm drooling ! This is a mouth watering post with delicious pictures & the best part was it's meatless! Great for my waistline, I think!!?? LOL Seriously I was surprised when read that it's actually a meatless lasagna! Looks sooooo GOOD!!! :)

So mouthwatering!!! Its lunch time and m literally drooling all over my everything looking at this! Oh girl I missed so much being part of this action. and m so sorry for not replying to your msg on wassup. I was in another city attending a wedding and my 2 year old used to play with the phone all the time (it was the only way I managed to keep her busy, please dont judge me :D). It was days later when I realized that I got a msg from you :(. My bad.Anyhoo, m back and armed now (with my new iPad). Aiming to post something atleast once a week :).

Now I need to get a pasta roller, this lasagna looks interesting! And I'm sure it's really tasty that your husband didn't even realize there's no meat in there! I hope I can trick my family the next time too ;)